Russell Crowe bushfire donation photo used in local council campaign

A photo of Russell Crowe donating money after the devastating 2019 bushfires has been used to endorse a team in the Coffs council elections.

A photo of Russell Crowe donating money to the Nana Glen Rural Fire Service after the devastating November 2019 bushfires has been used to endorse a political team in the upcoming local government elections.

Crowe is pictured with John Lardner, captain of the Nana Glen Rural Fire Service (RFS) and candidate in the September Coffs Harbour City Council elections.

The 'Together we'll fix it' team Tammy Mills-Thom, Nikki Williams, John Lardner and Rodger Pryce. Photo by Janine Watson.

He is number three on the ticket lead by mayoral candidate and prominent businessman Rodger Pryce. Their team is known as the ‘Together, we’ll fix it’ team.

The donation being handed over in the photograph came from the fundraising auction of Crowe’s preloved and battered Rabbitohs baseball cap.

Russell Crowe tweeted this image helping out neighbours in burnt areas of Nana Glen.

His multimillion-dollar property at Nana Glen came under serious threat during the November fires and he famously skipped the Golden Globes to protect it.

The hat auction, and matching funds from Crowe himself, raised $400,000 for the NSW Rural Fire Service.

Approximately $20,000 of that went to the Nana Glen RFS brigades and tens of thousands to several other local brigades across the region.

Russell Crowe tweeted a before and after image from his Nana Glen property saying: "My place 10 weeks ago after the fire had gone through, and this morning after a big weekend of rain." Picture: Twitter

Active on Twitter he shared some images which showed the devastation at his place and the recovery in the following weeks.

Sent this to a friend. Thought I’d share with you too . Fires still burning , logs smoking everywhere you look.
Got halfway to where we were trying to get to, will try again in the morning when it’s cooler. pic.twitter.com/eCjR8QXXMm

— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) November 25, 2019

The Crowe family’s generosity in the region is legendary from supporting local businesses to founding the Nana Glen Heartstart program – even donating $200,000 for a pool at Nana Glen Public School after a drowning tragedy.

So with the community reeling from the devastating blazes Crowe didn’t hesitate to step up once again.

RFS leaving Russell Crowe’s house during the November 2020 fires. Picture Nathan Edwards.

Now the image has been shared on Facebook by the newly formed ‘Together, we’ll fix it’ team in the September elections and shared by supporters on ‘news and views’ Facebook pages.

The post on the Together we’ll fix it Facebook page states: ‘Who is this handsome rooster? Some random dude on the left and the amazing Nana Glen local, Coffs Harbour Citizen of the year, John Lardner on the right.’

In March this year Russell was mourning the loss of his dad and well known Nana Glen local Alex.

Much-loved and respected in the Coffs Harbour community, he collapsed during a flight from Sydney to Coffs Harbour and could not be revived.